The Mumbai-Bhuj flight that flew without engine cover was carrying over 60 passengers.
The Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC) had contacted the pilots of the Alliance Air flight, which flew from Mumbai to Bhuj without its engine cover on Wednesday, whether any object had fallen off the aircraft after its take-off from the airport in Maharashtra capital, an official in Bhuj said.
As per the preliminary reports, the pilots did not realise that the cowl (cover) of one of the engines had fallen on the runway in Mumbai as they told the ATC that everything was fine, the official said.
The Alliance Air flight from Mumbai to Bhuj town in Gujarat's Kutch district, carrying more than 60 passengers, flew in the morning without engine cover that was later retrieved from the runway at the Mumbai airport, prompting aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start a probe into the incident, officials said.
"After spotting some object on the runway, the Mumbai ATC contacted the pilots of the Bhuj-bound flight and asked if something had fallen off the aircraft. However, the pilots said everything was alright. Later, the flight landed at Bhuj without any trouble. When it underwent routine supervision before the next flight, the maintenance staff learnt about the missing engine cowl," Bhuj airport director Navneet Kumar Gupta said.
The propeller-powered aircraft was carrying 66 passengers. It flew all the way to Bhuj town from Mumbai without its engine cowl, a removable metal covering for the engine, which fell on the Mumbai airport's runway during take-off, he said.
"Luckily, all the passengers and crew members are safe as the aircraft, which runs on propeller engines, landed without any trouble at the Bhuj airport," said Mr Gupta.
After the incident, Alliance Air cancelled its return trip to Mumbai, he added.
"While 66 passengers arrived in the flight in the morning, 61 passengers were supposed to take the same flight to Mumbai a few hours later. However, upon learning about the missing engine cover, the airline cancelled the return flight and began the maintenance work," Mr Gupta said.
The airport director said that as per the primary reports he has received, the pilots were not aware that a section of the engine's cowl had fallen during the take-off.
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